“I have just seen the drawings and descriptions of an electrical machine lately patented by a Mr. Tesla, and sold to the Westinghouse Company, which will revolutionize the whole electric business in the world. It is the most valuable patent since the telephone.”

Mark Twain, November 1888*

To use a modern phrase, we might say that Michael Faraday hacked electricity and magnetism. In 1821 he started experimenting with magnetism and electricity. He knew that the flow of current produced a magnetic field, so he wondered if a magnetic field could produce the flow of current. What he found out paved the way for the power distribution industry in the future.

MAGNETISM

Your primary school teacher may have demonstrated the ...

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